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Further Workplace Health and Safety bosses will be grilled at the inquest into the Dreamworld disaster today, after a leading inspector admitted he had "no confidence" in the emergency procedures in place on the Thunder River Rapids ride.

She said parents often instinctually protect their child if they observe problematic behaviour. This is an issue in itself as what caused the offending, often exposure to pornography or sexual violence, can also be overlooked.

"People often ignore or minimise the issue by saying, 'Oh, it's just a child - it's not that harmful,' or blame it on normal sexual development."

‘FAILED BY THE SYSTEM’

The sexual abuse left Jack suicidal and full of rage. He has been diagnosed with PTSD and still suffers crippling anxiety – something that affected him while he was at school.

Jack lost focus and his family were called in to work on a disciplinary action plan for him.

He was repeatedly suspended and Fiona said at the time his family were "desperate" to know why he was going off the rails.

"We were all there on several occasions, begging for help, just about in tears wanting to know what was happening to him, why he was so lost," she said.

It took years for Jack to tell her that the school knew exactly why, and despite staff seeing his mental health "disintegrate" before their eyes, family and police were never informed.

The family said Jack told the school chaplain about the abuse.

"The school covered it up. They never said a word to us; they kept him in that position," Fiona said.

"Had we of known, we could have protected him."

Fiona believes Jack reached out to the chaplain as a call for help, hoping someone would tell his family.

"We could have come up with a way to confront it … but they didn't give us the opportunity," she said.

"That's what I find so hard. Knowing they were looking us in the eye, telling us how much they cared about Jack and how much they wanted to help him, but said nothing."

The Queensland Department of Education did not comment when asked about Jack’s case.

It did confirm withholding information about any abuse disclosed was an egregious breach of Student Protection procedures.

"School staff have a mandatory responsibility to immediately report sexual abuse or suspected sexual abuse to the principal," a department spokeperson told nine.com.au.

They said a principal must report to the police, and that all volunteers and visitors, including chaplains, are bound by the same rules.

Nine.com.au contacted the school but it did not respond.

WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING

Once Jack confronted his abuser with a knife, the abuse stopped. However, his resistance did not mean Charlie let him go entirely. He then started to bully Jack.

The decision was made to move Jack away to live with his grandparents.

Unaware of the abuse, his mum Carol* stayed in the area and thought it was kindness that motivated the same boy who raped her son to keep coming by to see her.

"I thought in my naivety that he was a nice kid and was being polite when he would drop in," Carol told nine.com.au.

"Once I knew the truth, I know why he kept dropping around to check on me, it was to make sure I didn’t know the truth, or to see if I did."

It is unclear how many sex offences are committed by children annually in Australia.

Child safety experts said there has been little done to measure the rates of offending or what contributes to them.

"International evidence confirms that these behaviours are increasing and the perpetrators of problem sexual behaviour are getting younger and younger, " Emeritus Professor Freda Briggs wrote in a submission to the SA government in 2016.

CONSUMED BY DARKNESS

Fiona still doesn't know the full extent of what happened to her grandson as he has tried to protect her from the truth.

What she does know is how severely the abuse affected Jack.

"After he told us it all went to hell really fast for him. It became a battle trying to stop him from doing something stupid,” she said.

Fiona said he has "lost 10 years of his life" but hopes a new therapist he is seeing will help him start to move forward.

"I hope I live long enough to see him pull himself out of it," Fiona said.

"He has got to stop punishing himself because you always feel it's your fault or that there was something you should have done or said.

"But the person who should have spoken up was at that school."

Jack did not want to report the incident to police. His mother made a statement so there was something on record in case he or another victim decided to come forward. Queensland Police Service would not comment for privacy reasons.

*Names have been changed to protect identities.

If you or someone you know are struggling with mental health issues or need more information on suicide prevention, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 or Kids Help Line on 1800 55 1800.